11/10/16 Secondary - Helen Moss http://www.helenmoss.org.uk

[WP Central]

‘I knew you’d be cold,’ Mum called after me.  ‘You should’ve worn the new coat we got you.’

The New Coat! It was shiny, red, and so puffy that my arms stuck out at right angles. ‘It makes me look like a teapot!’  I yelled, my breath coming out in clouds.

Dad groaned. ‘It’s a walk in the countryside, Lily, not a fashion parade.’

 ‘I’m not cold, OK?’  I marched faster to get away from them, feet crunching on the frosted grass. I was, in fact, frozen to the bone, but there was no way I’d admit it.

I climbed over a gate and glanced at a faded information board. The mounds and hollows in this field are all that remains of the medieval village of Clopton: My eyes skipped over the words; Black Death in the fourteenth century  . . . population fell . . . abandoned . . . 

I looked down the slope.  Bumpy tussocks of grass, dead thistles, twisted bare trees huddling in clumps; it was hard to believe that once  - over a thousand years ago – this was a busy village with streets and houses, a church, a tavern, a marketplace . . . I shivered, and not just from the cold this time. 

I took a step. My foot caught in a bramble and suddenly I was pitching headfirst down the hill, snatching at grasses, tumbling, gathering speed, plunging into the shadow of a huge lightning-blasted tree, where the frost lingered, thick and white.  

When I sat up and opened my eyes I was still freezing.

 But everything else had changed.

[Jenny Noble]

I was sitting on a frozen lake, water sloshing onto the ice in certain places. sugar white snow covered the hills surrounding me, and a fox was sticking its nose out of a burrow. a million snowflakes floated down from the heavens,and as I attempted to catch one, I realized what looked so strange. the snowflakes were electric blue! I looked down upon myself, and saw I was wearing a giant poofy gown, electric blue, with jewels down the side. on my hair sat a tiara of blue, and heels of the same. No wonder I was cold, the dress was lace, and thin. I had not even thought I was cold, then a blue fur cape appeared around my shoulders, trailing down the ice. I stood, and snowflakes fell of me, but stuck to my hair like a veil. I needed to figure stuff out. I could still see my house on the hill, but it looked different. a warm glow came from the windows, and there were guards everywhere. about 10 acres of what used to be apple orchards were now castle, and this castle was connected to the house. I wandered up to the house, expecting a fight with the guards, but they only tipped their heads, the only acknowledgement i received.  I walked up to the door, which threw open before I could even touch it, and I fell to the ground.

"Sorry, your highness. your mum is waiting in the drawing room. here, let me escort you!" A plump woman in a white apron hurried out and grabbed me by the arm, pulling me excitedly through the door.

We rushed up a vast golden hallway, with frames or blue and red with portraits of the royal family.

A massive door stood open at the end, and a wave of heat ran over me. a fire was lit in a large stone fireplace, and mahogany chairs with plump cushions sat around the room.

A woman sat in one, and she turned to me. I was shocked! this was queen Elizabeth! or at least, the young one. the one I had only seen in photos.

"thank you Mary" her majesty said.

The plump woman blushed and ran out the door.

"Anastasia! did you have a nice walk, dear?" she said, and it took me a moment to realise she was addressing me.

"Anastasia? who's Anastasia?" I wondered out loud, but the Queen Elizabeth continued as if I hadn't even spoken.

"You of course missed lunch, so you should be starving...." she began, but I cut in.

"What are you doing in my home?" I questioned. this Elizabeth died a few hundred years ago!

"Your home? my home, thank you. And you will address me formerly, Anastasia. Im your mother!"

I froze.

Surely i'd heard incorrectly!

M...Mother?

Lara

Saint Marys College

[Hollie Rush]

“Yes, I am your mother. Why are you acting so surprised? Now what would you like for your lunch as you missed it?” exclaimed Elizabeth confidently.

 

“Well, I’m not really sure… What is there in the fridge?” I questioned.

 

“Whatever you would like my sweet darling, our chefs are brilliant. However, what do you mean by a fridge?

 

“Never mind, I meant the pantry. To be honest, I would quite like a nice chicken steak though. But could I have it with some lettuce?”

 

“Not a problem. Mary, fetch Anastasia a chicken steak with some lettuce.”                                          

 

I smiled and realised that this wasn’t too bad after all.

 

“Add some of you mashed potato special with that as well Mary,” shouted my mother.

 

I was getting used to living like this but at the back of my mind I was wondering how long I would be here. I walked down the slightly less ornately decorated corridor around the house towards the dining room. The doorway to the dining room seemed to almost look like heat haze, and yet I couldn’t see through it. I walked towards it but I still couldn’t see the dining room. All of a sudden I was in a dark room falling backwards incredibly fast, my life flashing in front of me.

 

 My eyes opened cautiously, wondering what I would wake up to see. Realizing I wasn’t dead, I peered over the cliffs of my eyelids and what I saw was incredible. Black walls surrounded me, and the faint whirr of machinery was echoing around the walls, like a ping pong ball. I looked down at my clothes. Black leather jacket, leather jeans and heavy duty boots, that’s my kind of style. I peeked through the keyhole; all there was, was space. Space? I ventured into the corridor, the whirr of machinery buzzing around me, getting louder as I walked.

 

 I heard a faint shout coming towards me shouting, “You OK? We’re getting ready to warp!”

 

What on earth is warp? I had only seen warp in sci-fi films and read the odd book about it. I darted towards the luring voice. All of a sudden, I was face to face with a man in a breathing mask. He told me to put on my mask. I couldn’t find it. Panic. I sat down and braced myself…

 

My head smashed against the navigation system. It was happening all over again where would I end up next? POP!

 

Madeleine Winder and Mikey Herbert

Ashlyns School

Berkhamsted,

Hertfordshire

 

 

 

 

[J Dennis]

I blinked my eyes open and looked around me. I was back by the tree. Was I home again? Was it all a dream? I can hear my parents calling for me.

"Lily! Lily Where are you?"

I yell, "Mum, Dad! I'm over here!!" But as they finally come into view I realize that this is not my world! There is something that is very, very different.

They don't look like normal people. They walk and sound like normal people. The only difference is their heads - they have the heads of horses.

"Lily, what's wrong?" The woman says.

"Erm," I say backing away. "Get away from me!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Yo-you...you're not my parents!" I stutter. I begin to crawl backwards away from the two horse people and slip down the hill behind the tree, cracking my head on the fence post.

Everything starts to go black. The last thing I think is I hope I get back home soon...

By Leon Butcher and Jack Llewellyn

West Kirby School.

[Nikki Olhausen]

The clock was ticking as time changed once again.  I arrived to see what must have been my parents. The world had moved on. My parents were as thin as twigs. They were always healthy and insisting that I kept in good shape. They were always the ones who were waking up early to keep fit by going for a run or a bike ride.

It looked like they were being worked to death, I had heard about something like that in the Holocaust. I know nothing can be as bad as that, but it came close. They were covered in some red dust and their house seemed to be…. floating. I looked at the barren, bare landscape which was covered in great, towering mountains.

I called out to get their attention,

“Mum, Dad, please just speak.” Lily cried out in despair.

At school I really enjoyed science and I realised in horror that they were on Mars, but there were holes in the ground. I looked at the signs around. It read: IMPERIAL MINING FROM EARTH. They were being forced to mine something. I didn’t know what it was. It looked dangerous because of the graveyards which were overfilling with torn, withered, burnt bodies. They were mining some deadly stardust!

My parents started to move, trudging slowly towards the mine. It was as if there was no more hope left in their hearts, which had been blocked out by an encrypted code which was impossible to hack.

Suddenly, just before my parents got to the mine I heard a wild scream from another miner, then there was a BOOM, as a perilous, ball of flame rose from the mine reaching out to grab me.

Time was ticking again as my consciousness started to fade.

Harlan Marr-Johnson

The Beacon School 

[Nicola Gowing]

I hated the change. I was ever so worried about my parents. The village is judge mental: everybody is not who they seem. At school I would get judged, but I think I should be fine as my new coat costed a fortune.

‘Lily, be careful!’ Mum shouted as I nearly slipped in mud,

‘Sorry mum.’ I explained as I know if I did my new, red coat would get ruined by the puddle of mud and my reputation at school would drop.

I do make sure I look presentable, but  I think it should all stop. Judging shouldn’t be the main key to life. I hate this town.

By the minute, my parents are getting thinner and thinner. My mother and farther buys designer clothes and objects to keep them happy but not knowing the consequences for buying survival objects (food and water).

I entered  school on Monday, showing off my new coat. All these girls gave me dirty looks: I felt like a fish in the ocean, small and worried. There seems to be a new girl in my class. I’m so they call a ‘loner’ and sit on my own most of the time. It’s not bad you know, I get everything done and get good grades. That’s all I care about. My grades.

Well, back to the girl: she had golden brown hair and her name was Charlotte.

Throughout the weeks we become friends. Best friends. But she gets bullied, bullied because of her wealth. She claimed herself to be ‘poor’

She cried out every night till her pillow was drenched as if she spilled a jug of water on it. She had enough of it. She ended it.

Her funeral was yesterday and tears dropped from my face crashing towards the floor like a tsunami. 

By Shanna, Great Yarmouth High School

[Sara sheldon]

A blinding light. The sound of my heartbeat. As I begin to stand, darkness engulfs me. I hear a whisper, calling my name. As I turn, I realised it was the door. I hear the sound of the door opening to my future. I open the door, first thing I hear is a wail, a cry for help. The ball of flame continues towards me. I stand still, ready to face my fate. Until.. The ball of flame gets destroyed. I look up, wondering what happened. A shadow, fleeing the scene. Curious, I follow it. Chasing, sweat, wondering how long more I have to go on. After eternity, I reach a gate. He hops over it easily, without a glance over.

 

‘Well, here we go’ I mutter to myself.

 

An abandoned shelter, rusty from age. I open the door, expecting nobody to be there.

“Freeze.” A raspy voice says to me.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    By Anna, Aresh and Joseph from Garden International School, Kuala Lumpur